The uses and gratification theory marked a perspective shift in the study of mass communication...
Framed
by Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch in the 1970’s, the uses and gratification
theory marked a perspective shift in the study of mass communication by turning
its attention away from media sources and message and how they affect the
audience [1]. Blumler and
Katz’s uses and gratification theory considers, instead, the audience not a
passive but an active player in their
media choices, and that these choices depend largely on media users’
apparent needs, wishes or motives [2], and that audiences are
thereby formed based on their similarities of wishes, needs and motives.
Elihu Katz [3] first introduced the uses and gratification perspective when he came up with
the idea that individuals make use of media to their advantage. This perspective surfaced in the 1970’s when
Blumler and Gurevitch persisted in expanding the idea.
Blumler and Katz [4] and Rossi [5] discussed the five main
assumptions of the theory:
·
The audience is not a
passive player in their media choices.
This notion is based on the assumption that the audience have perceived
goals when they select a particular media and they aim to achieve those goals
through the media they have selected.
·
It is the audience member
who takes the initiative in associating needs gratification and media
selection. This means that the audience
member is very aware of the eventual advantage he/she can get from the chosen
media and is not at all prone to be influenced by the media itself. Furthermore, this also implies that the
subjective opinion is more prevailing than what the media tries to depict.
·
Media is in constant
competition with other sources of need gratification. This is based on the assumption that the
audience member has several interest or desires that need gratification.
· The countless goals of media
use can be drawn from the information provided by the audience themselves. This is based on the assumption that the
audience are conscious and attentive of the motivations for their media choice
and are perfectly capable of expressing them
when needed.
· The final assumption of the
uses and gratification theory is that value judgments regarding the cultural
importance of media content are deferred while audience actions are being
examined. This means that it is only the
audience who can establish the real value of the media content that they
browse, they listen to or that they read.
As they make a decision in reading or viewing the content, they place
the value on it, according to their individual assessments.
Mcquail [6] contended that the various audience are attentive of media-connected needs and
can express them in terms of motivations; personal convenience is more
essential in audience formation than cultural or aesthetic factors; and all of
the important factors in audience formation can be measured. With these added
elements, researchers were able to find attributes of different media that
satisfy the needs of media users.
Classification
of Needs:
Based on the research made by Mcquail, Blumler
and Brown [7], people use media for:
- diversion or escapism
- companionship and development of personal relationships
- value reinforcement and exploring personal identity
- surveillance or getting information about the world
Katz, Gurevich and Haas [8] gave another list:
· cognitive needs – to attain information, meaning or understanding of the world to increase knowledge and intelligence for growth and self-realization.
· affective needs – to search for emotional or aesthetic experience.
· personal integrative needs – to enforce credibility, confidence and stability.
· social integrative needs - to strengthen contact with family and friends.
However, the uses and gratification theory
has been criticized by some scholars for being non-theoretical and vague in
defining key concepts and for not providing predictive capacity [9]. Despite criticisms, the theory
continued to be used by researchers all over the world to explore the
motivations why audience choose a particular media for need gratification.
Related Posts:
References:
[ [1] Pearce, K. J. (2009). Uses, gratifications, and dependency. In S. W. Littlejohn & K.
A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (Vol. 2, pp. 978-980). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3201900333&v=2.1&u=phupou&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=8281b9b4cdaf1efa117b9d978b9b5090
[3, 5, 9] Rossi, E. (2002). Uses and gratification/dependency theory. Retrieved from
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/7-4-uses.htm
[4, 6, 7, 8] Peirce, K. (2007). Uses and gratifications theory. In Encyclopedia
of Children,
Adolescents, and the Media (Vol. 2, pp. 841-843). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3470400454&v=2.1&u=phupou&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=3ea73357f55aa6ded9b25bf6a307d2c5
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